


Thorn and Thistle and Bone

by Pippin



Category: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Changelings, Fantasy, Fantasy World, Gen, twinyards
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-07
Updated: 2018-02-07
Packaged: 2019-03-15 05:21:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,300
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13606416
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pippin/pseuds/Pippin
Summary: Aaron hadn't wanted saved.  But apparently he had been anyway and there was some fae running around wearing his face and living his life.  The situation was less than ideal, but he wasn't going to stay trapped forever.





	Thorn and Thistle and Bone

It was quiet when Aaron woke.  That meant Tilda was not home or she was passed out.  Either was good, to Aaron’s way of seeing things—that meant his mother would neither touch him nor take his drug money to feed her own habit.  He was pretty sure there was school, but fuck it.  There wasn’t exy practice, so it wasn’t like he was going to go anyway.

“He’s awake,” said a melodic voice, and Aaron’s eyes shot open.  That wasn’t his mother’s voice.  That wasn’t the voice of anyone he knew.  And when he saw the person who had spoken, and who he had spoken to and—holy _fuck_ he had to be going crazy.

That wasn’t human. 

Aaron immediately ran through a list of everything he had taken in the past few days.  There wasn’t, as far as he could remember, anything that would have caused this level of hallucination.  The detail was far too good, far too intricate.

The people—was that even the right word?—looking at him were gorgeous but startlingly inhuman.  One had nearly pitch black skin and dark blue hair tied in a knot at the nape of his neck.  The other was several inches shorter, her skin a delicate shade of pink and her hair a blonde that was barely a shade off from white.

Aaron stared freely.  Two pairs of red eyes stared back at him.

“Fuck,” Aaron muttered in a low voice, pushing himself to a sitting position.  He grimaced slightly as his bruised ribs complained against the movement, but pain meant that he was at least sort of aware.  That meant he’d be making his way out of this drugged insanity and back to reality soon.

“Aaron Minyard,” the girl said, meeting Aaron’s eyes.  “You’re safe now.”

Aaron tipped his head, trying to parse through her words.  The sentence made sense, but the context was less clear.  “I’m safe now?”

The man took a step forward.  “My name is Carric, and this is Helelee.  You are under our care.”

“Under your care.”  Aaron seemed to only be able to speak in echoes of the last thing said to him.

“Your mother,” Helelee clarified.  “We watch out for the abused, for the hurt and neglected.  We take them away so that they’re safe.”

“And no one notices that these people just vanish?”

Carric’s smile revealed razor sharp teeth.  “Have you ever heard of changelings?”

This conversation was not going in any way that Aaron could have imagined it going.  “Those fucked up fairy kids, right?  Like, the real baby is stolen away.”

“That’s not quite the true story.  That’s just what people say to shift the blame from themselves.”  Carric tipped his head, looking closely at Aaron.  “It’s not just babies, for starters.  It’s anyone.  It’s you.”  He barely let Aaron have any time to react to that before he moved on.  “We don’t just steal people at random.  There is a rhyme and a reason to everything we do.  Like Helelee said, we watch out for those who are being hurt.  We only take people who need us to rescue them.  And then the fae child—fairy is something different—makes life hell for the person who once made life hell for the rescued person. 

“You’re safe now.  We’re going to take care of you.  No one’s going to hurt you again.  You’re going to be clean—no one will force drugs on you anymore.”

They were both looking at Aaron like they expected him to be grateful.  Like fuck he was going to be grateful.

“So you think you can just take away my entire life?  No one’s _forcing_ drugs on me.  I am perfectly capable of making my own choices.  Maybe you rescued me or whatever lie you tell yourself so you can sleep at night, but I never asked for this.  I want to _go home_.”

“That’s not an option.”  Carric’s voice was soft, like he was talking to a wild animal he was trying to tame.  Like he was trying to tame Aaron.  Like hell.

“So I’m a prisoner.”  It wasn’t a question.

“Don’t be dramatic.”  Helelee’s voice was cold and hard and when Aaron looked over at her she bared teeth just as sharp as those Carric had shown earlier.  He had underestimated her, then.

“You’re not a prisoner,” she continued.  “You’ve been rescued.  You’re _safe_.”

“I didn’t want rescued!” Aaron shouted.  He was pretty sure that the effect was ruined by the fact that he was in a bed and in his ratty old exy shirt and sweats, but whatever.  He was at least five inches shorter than the both of them, so the bed it was.  At least there he would look less like an actual infant.  “I had a _life_.  I had friends and a team and school and maybe it was a shitty life, but it was mine.  I’d made myself a little corner of the world, a place where I belonged.  Where I could be happy or whatever.  And maybe I was high, maybe I was hit every now and then, but _whatever_.  I want my life back.”

“That’s not an option.”  Helelee’s voice still hadn’t softened.

Carric laid a hand on Helelee’s arm gently.  “Fighting isn’t going to solve anything.  Aaron will come around in time.”  He came to stand beside the bed, looming—probably unintentionally—over Aaron.  “I know this is scary.  It’s new and different and you’re going to need time.  But I promise you, you’re safe.  This is your new home for the time being, and you need to accept that.”

Yeah, Aaron wasn’t about to do anything of the sort.  He could fight to get out.  He was _going_ to fight to get out.  This wasn’t going to be his fate.

Another fae entered the room.  This one had brick red hair and skin and was carrying a tray.  “Food?” he asked, setting the tray down on the table beside the bed.

“Hell no,” Aaron snarled.  Maybe he wasn’t really big on the whole school thing, but he did know some random tidbits here and there, and something he had somehow mysteriously retained was the danger of eating anything in the fairy-fae-whatever-the-fuck world.  “I’m not getting myself trapped here.”

Carric sighed heavily.  “It’s not like that, Aaron.  You’re not trapped.  We just have to ensure your safety.  Once you are, without a shadow of a doubt, safe you’ll be able to go home again.  It’ll take time.  But you’ll be able to go back.”

“After I’ve lost my entire life?  What will I have to go back to?”

Carric looked frustrated.  “This stubbornness will do you no favors.”

“Give it up,” Helelee said to him.  “He’ll come around.”  She turned and left.  After a moment of hesitation, Carric followed her, casting one mournful look back at Aaron.

Once they were gone, Aaron turned to look at the food.  He couldn’t deny that it looked amazing, much better than anything he was used to eating.  He thought for a moment.  It was true that he didn’t want to risk getting caught, but he also, for some reason, believed Carric’s statements that he wouldn’t be trapped.  And, if nothing else, he would need his strength to make his way out of wherever the hell this was and back to his own life.

With that in mind, Aaron quickly ate the food.  He wasn’t entirely sure what all of it was, but it was just as good as it had looked.  Now he just had to figure how he was getting out of here.

* * *

In South Carolina, in Aaron’s bed, the fae slowly blinked his eyes open.  As they faded from blood red into hazel, he smiled dangerously, a razor grin.  This was going to be fun.


End file.
